Graphic and Photographic Documentation
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1 Uxmal, Kabah, Sayil, and Labná http://academic.reed.edu/uxmal/ return to Annotated Bibliography Architecture, Restoration, and Imaging of the Maya Cities of UXMAL, KABAH, SAYIL, AND LABNÁ The Puuc Region, Yucatán, México Charles Rhyne Reed College Annotated Bibliography Graphic and Photographic Documentation This is not a general bibliography on the graphic and photographic documentation of the Maya. This section includes publications of and about 19th and early 20th century graphic and photographic documentation of Maya archaeological sites in the Puuc region. Because these were mostly made by early explorers and scholars, many of the publications listed in this section appear also in the section on Early Explorers and Scholars. A Abrams, H. Leon, Jr. “Justin Kerr’s Innovative Contribution to Maya Archaeology”. Katunob: A Newsletter-Bulletin on Meso-American Anthropology. Vol. 10, No. 2 (1977): 19-22. Greeley, Colorado: University of Northern Colorado. Adkins, Lesley, and Roy A. Adkins Archaeological illustration. Cambridge Manuals in Archaeology. Cambridge University Press, 1989. A clearly presented manual describing the various purposes, approaches, conventions, and techniques for archaeological drawings. The number of different types of drawings explained is impressive and necessary for anyone attempting to understand such drawings, especially if attempting to use such drawings as evidence. For each chapter there is a useful annotated list of recommended sources. Photographic documentation is not discussed. 2 Antochiw, Michel Historia cartográfica de la península de Yucatan. Ed. Comunicación y Ediciones Tlacuilo, S.A. de C.V. Centro Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del I.P.N., 1994. Comprehensive study of maps of the Yucatan from 16th to late 20th centuries. Oversize volume, extensively illustrated, including 6 high quality foldout color maps. The important 1557 Mani map is illustrated and described on pages 35-36, showing that Uxmal was known at the time and was the only location identified with a symbol of an ancient ruin instead of a Christian church. ARTstor Available on the ARTstor web through subscription at: http://www.artstor.org/index.shtml (accessed 2007 Dec. 8) This is one of the two most extensive, publically available collections of early photographs of Uxmal, Kabah, Sayil, and Labná, either in print or on the web. The other equally large collection, also on the web, is hosted by the Peabody Museum of Archeology and Ethnography, Harvard Univsrsity (which see). The photographs on the ARTstor website are from the Carnegie Institution of Washington Maya Excavations, and are also housed at the Peabody. Some of the same photographs appear on both web sites. The photographs include distant views, views of individual buildings, including lesser known structures, interiors, many details of collapsing sections and individual pieces of fallen architectural sculpture, reliefs, etc. Both sets of photographs show some structures as discovered, some uncovered, and some at various early stages of restoration. The main differences are that the ARTstor images can be opened larger and at higher resolution, allowing viewers to examine the images in greater detail, a significant advantage for photographs of these elaborate and much restored Maya sites. Also, as of December 2007, the catalogue information posted with the ARTstor images is much more extensive than that on the Peabody site. However, ARTstor images are only available at subscribing institutions in the United States, whereas the Peabody images can be viewed by anyone with Internet connection anywhere in the world. The Carnegie Institution of America photographs were taken between 1913 and 1957 during the Maya expeditions sponsored by the CIW. On the ARtstor web site, there are 462 images of Uxmal, 330 of Kabah, 235 of Sayil, and 193 of Labná. The images can be opened full screen-size and larger. Most are magnificent, grey-scale photographs, highly professional and superbly lit for maximum detail and legibility. 3 B Banta, Melissa and Curtis M. Hinsley, assisted by Joan Kathryn O’Donnell From Site to Sight: Anthropology, Photography, and the Power of Imagery. Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology and the Department of Anthropology, Harvard University. Cambridge, MA: Peabody Museum Press, 1986. An impressively rich, diverse collection of 127 photographs dating from the beginning of photography to the present day, taken to assist many different types of scientific enquiry. The book was published in connection with an exhibition at the Peabody Museum, Harvard, from which collection the photographs were drawn. The 8 chapters explore a wide range of approaches to scientific photography with highly informative examples, clearly described. One page illustrates a gelatin dry-plate negative and positive print, by an unknown photographer, showing Edward H. Thomson in his room at Labná, 1888-1889, fitted out for photography (illustration 10). Barber, D. Geomatics for heritage recording: Initial report. Unpublished report. Newcastle upon Tyne: Department of Geomatics, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, 2000. Barrera Rubio, Alfredo “La obra fotográfica de Teobert Maler en la Península de Yucatán”. Indiana, Gedenkschrift Walter Lehmann. Vol. 1, No. 6 (1980), 107-124. This meticulous, scholarly article provides detailed information about the photographs and other materials of Teobert Maler housed in collections in Mérida, capital of the State of the Yuactán, and elsewhere. These include 189 photographic prints representing 56 Pre-Columbian sites. Barrera Rubio first describes Maler material in other collections, in Hamburg, Berlin, Paris, Casasola in the State of Hidalgo, and Tulane University. He then analyses 3 albums of Maler photographs, housed in the Biblioteca Central del Estado de Yucatán, deteriorated photographs now housed in the Palacio Cantón, and in private collections. There is then a description of Maler manuscript maps, plans, and drawings in the Yucatán. Detailed information is provided regarding condition, provenance, etc. Altogether there are 5 photographs of Uxmal, 3 of Kabah, 4 of Sayil, and 2 of Labná. Baudez, Claude-François Jean-Frédéric Waldeck, peinte: le premier explorateur des ruines mayas. Paris: Editions Hazan, 1993. Waldeck’s images of Uxmal are reproduced on this web site. http://academic.reed.edu/uxmal/galleries/thumbnails/drawings/Drawings-Waldeck.htm A 200-page survey of Waldeck’s career, with many personal episodes from his life. Baudez calls attention to the theoretical basis of Waldeck’s Maya adventures. About his 1835 arrival at Uxmal, he writes (in translation) “that which interests him above all 4 is to determine the degree of analogy that the art of Uxmal is going to present to that of Palenque and Tonina” (p. 148). Baudex accurately notes that (in translation), “The merit of the book resides in the lithographs”, but his statement that “The text on the other hand is deceiving and does not distinguish itself from the notes and journals that Waldeck had not intended for publication” (p. 158) minimizes the importance of some of those observations. Baudez’s justifiable admiration for Waldeck sometimes distorts his account. For example, in his caption to the Waldeck’s famous reconstruction drawing of a classical- type standing male nude on the façade of Temple 5 of the Pyramid of the Magician, Baudez writes (in translation): “The colossal statues are considered by most Mayanists as the invention of the artist” adding that “fragments of the colossal statues have been since recovered in the zone of Uxmal” (caption to fig. 26, p.150). Although not explicitly stated, Baudez’s wording clearly implies that these fragments vindicated Waldeck’s reconstruction. In fact, no fragments found anywhere at Uxmal lend any support to Waldeck’s imaginary drawing. No sculpture of any standing figure in Maya art stands naturalistically, touching the back wall at only buttocks and shoulders, as in Waldeck’s profile drawing. Includes 34 color plates and 31 grey-scale figures, all of good quality. There is an important 2-page bibliography, with separate listings for publications by Waldeck and the locations for his manuscripts and drawings. Chapter 3 on the Yucatan includes only 2 pages on Uxmal and 1 illustration from Waldeck’s landmark volume (pp. 148- 149 and fig. 26). Arches at Kabah, Uxmal, and Labna, are included in a drawing comparing 8 Maya arches (fig. 29). Benavidas Castillo, Antonio “Teobert Maler”. La antropología en México: Panorama histórico. 10.Los protagonistas (Diaz-Murillo), 469-476. Ed. Lina Odena Güemes and Carlos García Mora. Mexico City, D.F.: Colección Biblioteca del INAH; Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, 1987. A 5-page review of the life and work of Teobert Maler (1842-1917). There is a useful. 4- page bibliography Bonaccorsi-Hild, Doris Teobert Maler: Soldat, Abenteurer, Gelehrter aud den Spuren der Maya. Wien: Ibera Verlag, 2001. An excellent 245-page biography on Maler, the best overall introduction to his life. Written clearly for a general readership, the book includes details from archives and from conversations with a few of those still living who remember him. There are a few references to Uxmal, Kabah, Sayil and Labná. 5 Bourbon, Fabio Le città perdute dei Maya: La vita, l’arte e le scopperte di Frederick Catherwood. Valeria Manferto De Fabianis and Fabio Bourbon, eds; Paola Piacco, graphics. Vercelli, Italy: Edizioni White Star,1999. Also published in English as The Lost Cities of the Mayas: The Life,